Two Sitting Ducks Pining for the days when blogs were cutting edge

Rediscovering Libraries

Last Saturday I finally made my way to the local community library - something I've been meaning to do for almost two years, since we last moved house.

It's actually been a very long time since I last stepped into a public library. I don't think I've been an active library user since I lived at home with my parents, so that would be about 10 years now. In the intervening years, I've never felt like I was going to be living in the location long enough to warrant being bothered to sign up as a member.

Now though, I don't see us moving anytime soon. Our financial budget is also much tighter these days (and thanks to the Reserve Bank's interest rate policy, getting tighter all the time) so the option to buy new books isn't really there now. Also, more recently, I have really gotten back into reading in a big way. I've always enjoyed reading but have struggled to find the time to do it, with it losing the free time battle against other pursuits like TV, internet, etc.

So, after ten years of library absenteeism, I once again walked into a book building. It was great! Wandering the aisles, seeing what might jump out at me. I put in a request to receive a book that was at another library. I used the catalogue to search for a book, then felt the excitement of scanning the shelves looking for the corresponding Dewey Decimal.

Now I am halfway through the first of three books I borrowed, and am excited about reading again. But I haven't completely given up on the internet - you can track my reading at either www.shelfari.com/andrewcanion or http://www.librarything.com/profile/Splinky (I haven't yet decided which of these two websites are better - any comments?)